How Birdie Book Works

The short version: you keep score on a phone like you would on paper, and Birdie Book does everything else— handicaps, stats, league standings, and live leaderboards. Jump to what you're trying to do:

Tracking roundsScoring for a groupLeaguesEvent days + live leaderboardOutingsTrips & CupsThe shared boardWeak signalFAQ

Tracking your own rounds

Rounds → New Round, pick your course and tees, and tap scores as you play — every tap saves automatically within a couple of seconds. When you finish, hit Complete Round: your Birdie Book handicap estimate updates from your saved differentials, and the round joins your stats and history for good. Not an official Handicap Index from GHIN or another authorized association; PCC and the current nine-hole expected-score method are not included. PCC means Playing Conditions Calculation.

Scoring for your whole group

One card handles up to six players — add your regular partners or one-off guests during round setup (guests don't need accounts). Prefer everyone on their own phone? On the round page, tap Invite players and share the link: each friend opens it, taps their name, and scores their own card. Everyone sees the same round.

Side games for casual rounds: add Skins, Nassau, or Match Play with dollar stakes when you create the round, or add one mid-round. Results update live on the scorecard. These are separate from event money games, which use points and a live board.

Leagues

Joining: get the invite code from your commissioner, then Leagues → Join a League. Your league page shows standings, this week's matchups, money, and history.

Running one: create the league, add members (they don't all need accounts — you can manage players by name), set up a season, and Birdie Book handles the schedule, matchup scoring, standings, weekly contests, and the ledger.

Event days — the live leaderboard

An event is a day where the whole field plays and everyone watches one live leaderboard — league day, member-guest, buddies trip, or charity outing. Pick your role for the exact path you'll follow:

Outings — one-day events for any group

Charity scramble, work outing, bachelor party: Events → + New outing. Add the field by name (nobody needs an account), share the captain link with one scorer per group, and put the live board on the clubhouse TV. Same flow as a league event day, minus the league.

Formats and money games: pick the format when you create the event — scramble (each group plays one ball as a team; enter the team score on any row), stroke play, Stableford (points per hole, most points wins), best ball / shamble (everyone plays their own ball; the team keeps its best one — or best two for a shamble — each hole), or team total (every player’s score counts toward the team) — and turn on skins, closest-to-pin, and long drive from the Money games panel on the event page. Skins are computed live from the cards. During a live event, a captain or player in a linked group can post the current CTP or long-drive holder from that group's scorecard; the organizer can correct a holder or lock the final result. Best-ball, shamble, and team-total score by named team — after creating the event, add teams in the roster and assign each player.

Trips & Cups — a weekend of golf with one story

A Trip bundles several event days — a buddies weekend, a two-day member-guest — under one roster and one page. From Events → Trips & Cups, tap + New Trip, name it, and optionally turn on the Cup: a Ryder-style team tally that adds up across every event in the trip, with a points target if you want a finish line to play for.

Once the trip exists, New trip event adds each day's round — every one is a normal event with the same organizer, captain, and spectator paths described above, so nothing new to learn on the day. Share the trip's join link and anyone with a free account lands on the roster; joining twice is harmless. The trip page keeps the running standings and the Cup tally as each day finalizes.

Trip or outing? One day, one field, one board — make an outing. Multiple days that should add up to one result — make a Trip and add each day as a trip event.

The shared board (TV & spectators)

On the event page, the organizer taps Create share link. That link is read-only and safe to post anywhere — it shows only display-ready event information, never database ids, invite codes, claim history, or private organizer settings, and you can revoke it at any time. Open it on a TV browser at the clubhouse for the full tour-leaderboard effect. Organizers can also configure a bounded sponsor rotation and attach an active sponsor as a contest presenter; the public board shows only the display name, safe link/logo fields, and current contest result.

Weak signal on the course

Golf courses have dead zones; Birdie Book expects that. Scores keep saving to the phone with no signal and sync automatically the moment it returns. On the live board, a group that's gone quiet just shows "thru 7 · 12m ago" until their phone reconnects. The app shows the current local-save and sync status so you know when a score is waiting to send.

Quick answers

Do my players need accounts? Only captains (they enter scores) and anyone who wants their own stats and handicap. Watching the board needs nothing at all.

Two captains picked the same player? The first group keeps them; the second captain gets a heads-up and just re-picks. If someone's in the wrong group, the organizer can sort it out before finalizing.

Entered a wrong score? Fix it right on the scorecard any time during the round. Organizers can re-run results after finalizing if a correction comes in late.

Net vs. gross? Net applies each player's handicap strokes hole by hole (the hardest holes first, just like stroke lines on a paper card). The board shows both, and the organizer picks which one ranks the field.

Who can see my scores? Your rounds are private to the people you play with. League pages are members-only. The event share link shows names, holes played, and scores to anyone who has the link — and the organizer can kill that link whenever they want.

"This event is no longer open"? The event was finalized or cancelled — check with the organizer.

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